Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Anna Smith hits the ball between Gladstone defenders Megan Crow (left) and Keeley Angsten (bottom) Wednesday at Escanaba.

ESCANABA — One dictated the pace, and the other was stuck in a game of reactive catch-up. Escanaba took control early to earn a straight-set volleyball victory against the rival Gladstone Braves, 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-22), here Wednesday.

The third set was the outlier as an experimenting Eskymos team faltered slightly.

“Our team came prepared to play today,” Esky coach Adam Lambert said. “The last (set) we got a lot of people in. We got everyone in on every set, but that last one, we got everyone in. We started in a different rotation and just tried some different things.

“Tomorrow’s a tough game against Marquette, so we were trying to use this as a chance to work on some of our offense and some of the things we want to do.”

The Braves took an early 3-2 lead thanks to an Escanaba serve into the net. Gladstone stayed ahead by a bare margin until a miscommunication let an Eskymos’ return through to tie it at 10.

“I think we get too comfortable or complacent with how we’re playing, and we don’t stay ahead when we are ahead,” Braves coach Averi Kanyuh explained. “I just need to see more fight out of them.”

Each earned another point apiece before a seven-point run from Esky’s Mari Bink gave it a seven-point cushion (18-12).

Despite the significant deficit, the Braves found some rhythm and went on a 9-1 run — including an ace from Megan Crow — to tie it at 20.

The two traded another set of points before Esky’s Katelyn Stahlboerger earned a kill, and Bailey Barron aced her next serve to give it a 23-21 advantage.

Gladstone snuck in one more point before Stahlboerger notched another kill, and the set and match were ultimately decided on a lift penalty against the Braves.

“Unfortunately, yesterday’s game (3-0 loss to Marquette) kind of carried over to today’s game,” Kanyuh said. “We just had too many mistakes — one after another, and they didn’t seem to (be able to) shake it off right away.”

The Eskymos started strong in the first set, sprinting out to a 9-2 lead early on. The Braves had difficulty putting runs together, accumulating just three sets of three points with all others being single.

After the mid-point of the set, the closest Gladstone would come was within six, but a kill from Bink and back-to-back kills from Nicole Kamin pushed the Eskymos back ahead 19-10.

“Because of our COVID break, these girls are itching to play,” Lambert said. “They’re focused in practice and just doing a good job. It was a good match for us. Everyone had some good kills and some good serves.”

An Esky serving error gave the Braves a chance near the end of the set, and Gladstone’s Alissa Sanville earned a kill to help cut the deficit to 22-14.

However, the Eskymos’ Anna Smith took back possession with a spike, and Kamin sealed the set with back-to-back aces.

Esky got off to a good start in the second set thanks to an eight-point run from Grace Charles, and it was an advantage the Braves couldn’t overcome.

Gladstone was unable to find its footing in the set, with its first 10 points coming solely from Escanaba errors.

Crow earned the Braves’ only kill of the set with a block to reduce their deficit to 21-11 before the Eskymos finished the set.

“I think we just need to take it back to basics,” Kanyuh said. “Back to passing, back to communicating and move on from there.”

Escanaba hosts Marquette today, while Gladstone visits Manistique.

“We’re excited (about the Marquette match),” Lambert said. “We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but we’ll bring our A-game and see what happens.”